Road-grader wheel-leaning mechanism



- July 1,1930. c. u. l-AVERTY ROAD GRADER WHEEL LEANING MECHANISM Filed July 28, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 1, 1930.

Filed July 28, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 1, 1930 lumrnn STATES PATENT: OFFICE CLYDE n FAVERTY, OFYHAMMOJND, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR To RYAN MNraoonroRArIoN, or cII-IoAeo. ILLINOIS, A, CORPORATION or ILLINoIs- ROAD-GBADER WHEEL-LEANING MECHANISM Application filed July 28,

My invention relatesin general to road graders. Iii-relates more particularly to a wheel leaning; mechanism particularly adaptable for use with road graders of the type described in the copendingapplicationsv of Daniel G. Hinds, Serial No. 689,416,. filed January 30., 19-24, and Owen'ErGrigsby, Serial No. 110,- 3-35, filed May 20, 1926, wherein a plurality ofmajor adjustments is provided including means'for leaning the frame with respect to the-under carriage to compensate for irregularities in. the ground and to secure certain adjustment features not: otherwise obtained.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide an improved. Wheel leaning mechanism.

Another object is to provide a wheel leaning' mechanism wherein the power applied will be commensurate with the load to be moved.

'A-nother object'is to provide a road grader wherein more power is provided to lift the wheels than to lean them.

Another object is to provide a wheel leaning mechanism of simplified-construction and improved operation. I

, One-embodiment of my invention is-shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Fig." I is a fragmentary rear end view of a-grader showing'my-inventi'on applied there- I liig. 2 is an enlarged view ofa portion of Fi 1' A 1 ig. 3'- isa sectional view taken 'alongthe line-33'o f Fig; 1, and

Fig. 41S aview similar to. Fig. 2 but showing-the parts in actuating'position. 7

invention contemplates applying the wheel leaningmechanismto'boththefront and rear'wheels but 'thedrawingshows-the application of'the' principles involved to the rear wheels; The manner in which the power: is carried to the front wheels is' disclosed in my copending application Serial No; 215; 088, filedAugust24g1'92'Z. I 'In thespecific embodiment offthe invenf tion herein shown, the wheels are mountedon bell cranks ,.one arm ofxwhich serves as the axlerwith the" other arm extending. vertically 1928. Serial- NO.. 295 864.

upward and with a tie rod connecting opposite arms. s A rack is provided on the. tie rod with an. eccentric gear meshing with the rack and adapted to drive. the same. The gear is driven by means of power derived from a central power source on the grader, the power being communicated to. the eccentric gear in a different way to the front and rear wheel mechanisms. a

In the rear lean wheel: assembly shown in the. accompanying drawings, a rear axle is provided composed of channels. 10 and 11 facing away from each other and held 'in spaced relation by anysuitable crossinembers. At the end of the. axles, bell cranks 12, and 13 are pivoted on the horizontal arms of which are supported wheels 14 and 15. The vertical bell crank arms are connected by a tie rod 16, pivot: connections 17 and 18 being provided-so that end movement ofthe tie rod will resultin moving the bell cranks about their pivots and leaning the. wheels. The tie rod isheld in. spaced relation from the; axle. by spacers 21-21, which have" a pivot; connection at each end and thus serve 7 to; reinforce thetie rodithroughout its length, while permitting. relative movement-thereof with respect to the axle. a The axle has secured thereto, inwhichxa transverse shaft. 23 is journaled, thesha'fthaving secured thereon a worm gear 24 confined within the housing and protected by a housing cover 25. The lower part of the housing forms ajournal'for a shaft 26 which carries a. worm 27 meshing with the worm gear. This construction is the same for both a housing 22 the front and rear wheels with the exception that the means for transmitting motion tolthe shaft .26 varies in each instance.

.lAs shown Fig. 3, theshaft 2 3 has one endiextending beyondthe housing and to this end is secured an eccentric gear 28',- which meshes withlarack 29 carried on the lower sidesof the tie'rod. ,Th'ereare various advantages and functions connected'with this specific' arrangement of gearing which will be described more in detail hereinafter.

The worm shaft'26 is connected by a universal joint 31 to a: telescoping. drive shaft comprising an inner'shaft' 32 and. an outer tube shaft 33 in which the shaft 32 is adapted to slide. Engagement between the two shafts is such as to permit this sliding motion while still resulting in a positive drive independent of the telesco in action.

Thetuhe s a t 33 is connected by a universal 34 to a stub shaft 36 journaled in a housing 37 formed inte ral with the uprig t brace member 38 which constitutes a an f'tl'le frame. The shaft 36 has a bevel ar 39 mounted on its inner end which meshes with; a bevel ear 41 carried by an upright shaft 42 whic is also journaled in the housing 37. This housing therefore not only serves as a journal forthe two shafts but also prevents the two bevel gears from being clogged by foreign matter such as ea twigs andthe like which might otherwise" (lie between them. 1 :The aft 42 is connected by a universal 43 to a vertical shaft 44 carrying at its u end a bevel gear 46, this gear meshing mthiawpair of bevel gfars 47 and 48 which are rotatable on a suite 1e shaft, (not shown). These ears-form a part of a gearbox 49 which 1s described in the copending application of William J. Schlacks, Serial No.

13, filed July 28, 1928. ignlshowsa portion of the interior of thegear box indicating the manner in which movement is imparted to the shaft 44. The transverse shaft (not shown) on which the tln -ihevelgears are journaled, is normally firmed through a connection with a source of motive. power carried on the grader frame. 'llhimehaft has a clutch member 51 free to ithereen-hntturning therewith. It has ihJtwomnd faces shaped to engage the maiendaof the bevel gears 47 and 48 so thtbby shiftirlglthe clutch member 51 into i i mt wit either one of the gears, the Mount rotationof the shaft 44 is reversed. When the clutch member is left in neutral! position, the shaft of course will restationary. A suit-able lever (not Ill-01min the resent application) is proiideat for shiftin'gthe clutch member 51.

aiAe pneyiously mentioned, the grader to which the invention is applied, preferably been tiltable main frame. Fig. 1 illustrates thearrangement at the rear of the or tilting the frame. This feature is i I in detail in my application of Serial No. 295,865, filed July 28, 1928, but will be mentioned here briefly to indicate the manmi! in Twhieh the wheel leaning mechanism w'illhe-mrmghtmember 38 forming a part of flieiname, is connected to a pivot pin 52 supported in the axle. This pers the. to he tilted sidewa s with respect to the rear axle, the. front the frame beingconnected to the front axle by means of joint preferably of'the ball and socket type, so that the whole frame may be moved with respect to the two axles. The rear axle also carries an upright bracket terminating in a gear segment 53. This member is ri 'd and stationary with respect to the axle an has in meshing relation therewith, a relatively large spur gear 54 which is carried by the main frame and driven by suitable shaftingl leading to the gear box 49. B rotating t is gear, either to the left orrig t, a corresponding tiltin motion of the entire frame will result. hen the shifting takes place, the housing 37 with the bevel gears shafts 42' and 44 and gear box 49 are tilted with the frame. The angularit in the shaft resulting from this tilting is ta an up by the universal joints 34 and 31, while the shortening or lengthening effect on the shaft connecting these two universal ioints is obviously compensated for by the telescoping arrangement.

In operating the wheel leaning mechanism, the clutch member 51 is brought into contact with the proper gear so as to rotate the shaft 44 in the proper direction. In actual practice, a clutch lever is rovided and the arrangement is such that if the wheels are to be leaned to the left, the clutch lever is pushed to the left, while if the movement is to the right the clutch lever is correspondingly moved.

Assume that the movement is to be to the right, the arts will then occupythe positions shown in i 4. The manner in which this movement-ta es place is readily understood. The worm driving theworm gear 24, transmits the motion to the shaft 23 and thence to the eccentric gear 28. This causes a movement of the rack, which in turn operates the bell cranks about their respective pivots and so leans the wheels.

As the leaning movement takes place, the tie rod being secured on upright pivots, will naturally assume a position closest to the axle, the greater the end movement which it receives. It is observed that the eccentric gear readily accommodates itself to this movement and the teeth closest to the axis of the ar then engage the rack.

T is feature 0 com ensating for the vertical shifting of the rac is of great value but another result is obtained which is still more important from an operating and mechanical standpoint. It is obvious that a greater effort must be exerted to strai hten the wheels after they are leaned than to can them when they are in an upright position. When the teeth closestto the axis of the gear are in engagement-with the rack, a shorter lever results and the force applied is greatly increased. i a

This force is calculated to vary directl with the distance between the fulcrum (whic is the axis in this case) and the point of application of v the force. The increasing efiort applied to the rack while the wheels are in leaning position is therefore considerably greater than when the Wheels are straight. In other words, the leverage increases and decreases as the wheels are changed and in accordance with the effort required to be put forth.

Another feature is that the force applied to the tie rod is always along the pitch line of the rack or in other words, directly along the axis of the tie rod. The gear has no direct lift to accomplish, the entire lifting effect being put forth by the bell cranks with the assistance of the spacers 21. It is obvious that a single lever on the shaft 23 for moving the tie rod, would have most of its work applied directly to the bottom of the tie rod in a direction so as to lift the same. The ad vantage of the construction herein shown wherein the entire force is applied directly along the pitch line of the rack, is therefore obvious.

The accompanying drawings have been described as showing a specific embodiment of my invention but it is obvious that the construction may be modified considerably without avoiding the invention which is limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is 1. In a road grader, a pluralityof wheels,

swivel mountings therefor, a tie rod connect-- ing the swivel mountings for each pair of.

wheels, a rack on the tie rod, an eccentric gear meshing with the rack, and means for driving the gear in either direction to lean the wheels.

2. In a road grader, an axle, a bell crank with horizontal and vertical arms at the ends of the axle, wheels journaled on the horizontal arms, a tie rod having its ends pivotally secured to the vertical bell crank arms, a rack on the tie rod, an eccentric gear meshing with the rack and means for driving the gear tov move the tie rod and lean the wheels.

3. In a road grader, an axle, a bell crank with horizontal and vertical arms pivoted at the ends of the axle, wheels journaled on the horizontal arms, a tie rod having its ends pivotally secured-to the vertical bell crank arms, a rack on the tie rod, a shaft transverse of the axle, with an eccentric gear meshing with the rack and a driven gear also secured thereon, a drive gear meshing with the driven gear and shafting extending from the drive gear to a central source of power carried by the grader frame. I

4. The combination defined in claim 3 with pivotally connected bars between the axle and tie rod for reinforcing the tie rod and spacing it parallel to the axle.

5. In a road grader, an axle, bell cranks secured at the ends of the axle with vertical and horizontal arms, wheels mounted on the horizontal arms, a tie rod connecting the vertical arms, a straight rack carried by the tie rod on the side thereof adjacent said axle and an eccentric gear meshing with the rack CLYDE B. FAVERTY. 

